MrBatman Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 I was wondering which powder I should make for small explosives like firecrackers. I’m on a tight budget and not very skilled so the powder should be cheap, effective and relatively easy to formulate. Any help would be great thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zumber Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 For small firecracker nitrate based slow flash powder can be used but as you have mentioned you are not skilled I recommend to spend time reading /learning safety precautions dealing with nitrate flash. Please post what exactly are you willing to do. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHNO Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 67% Zn / 33% S 63% KNO3 / 37% Sugar + 2% Fe2O3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBatman Posted March 7 Author Share Posted March 7 I was thinking of making it with 50g potassium persulphate and 35g of powdered magnesium to make the flash powder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zumber Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 Just start with slow nitrate flash. Like Barium nitrate and fine aluminium powder. 70:30 or Barium nitrate 60 Sulphur 20 Fine aluminium powder 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbullzuiper Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 The last couple of months the quality of the forum is declining. It worries me honestly, the amount of bad formulated questions, questions that make no sense, questions that no one understands, and so on. Looks likes there are coming more and more trolls / kids to the forum and dont add anything to it. This one is another example, can we do something about this? 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBatman Posted March 7 Author Share Posted March 7 30 minutes ago, redbullzuiper said: The last couple of months the quality of the forum is declining. It worries me honestly, the amount of bad formulated questions, questions that make no sense, questions that no one understands, and so on. Looks likes there are coming more and more trolls / kids to the forum and dont add anything to it. This one is another example, can we do something about this? Thanks for taking the time to type this. Really helped bud 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXpyro Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 Don't use: 7 perchlorate 3 aluminum It's kinda sensitive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXpyro Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 (edited) On 3/7/2024 at 1:32 PM, redbullzuiper said: The last couple of months the quality of the forum is declining. It worries me honestly, the amount of bad formulated questions, questions that make no sense, questions that no one understands, and so on. Looks likes there are coming more and more trolls / kids to the forum and dont add anything to it. This one is another example, can we do something about this? I'm one of them. JK Edited March 10 by TXpyro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mx5kevin Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 (edited) Using aluminum are not recommended for nitrates if you want to strong energetic fast FP. Buy minimum -325 mesh fine magnesium or finer. Persulphates it is not as good and strong oxidizers as nitrates, unreliable, and not used in pyrotechnics for flash the pro users. I have tried all the existing oxidizers for flash. KNO3 50 Mg (-400 mesh or finer) 40 Sulfur 10 Coat it the Mg with 5% boiled linseed oil and dry it (a little white spirit is needed for as solvent), otherwise, the added oxidizer will damage it. Everything else is unnecessary for a beginner. What else is worth it is barium nitrate if you want a good bright white light and a little bit stronger flash powder. If you don't have potassium chlorate or perchlorate, it doesn't matter what other oxidizer you put in it, you won't see a big difference. Only your money will be wasted. If you need a really strong flash, use the same 5/4/1 ratio with potassium perchlorate, aluminum (4-12 micron), sulfur under 10g salutes. Above 10g salutes mix it the dark aluminum with 30 micron blue 50:50. I recommend thick, strong cylindrical water glass tubes made of copy paper, or masking paper. Buy minimum 50m long 2mm visco fuse to it. More complicated than that is not worth it and it is unnecessary to invest. What is worth the most is potassium perchlorate with some pure dark under 10g, and blue:dark 50:50 above 10g salutes. In order to grind the ingredients properly, you need at least a high-quality lab mortar. Edited March 10 by mx5kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zumber Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 6 hours ago, mx5kevin said: Using aluminum are not recommended for nitrates if you want to strong energetic fast FP. Buy minimum -325 mesh fine magnesium or finer. Persulphates it is not as good and strong oxidizers as nitrates, unreliable, and not used in pyrotechnics for flash the pro users. I have tried all the existing oxidizers for flash. KNO3 50 Mg (-400 mesh or finer) 40 Sulfur 10 Coat it the Mg with 5% boiled linseed oil and dry it (a little white spirit is needed for as solvent), otherwise, the added oxidizer will damage it. Everything else is unnecessary for a beginner. What else is worth it is barium nitrate if you want a good bright white light and a little bit stronger flash powder. If you don't have potassium chlorate or perchlorate, it doesn't matter what other oxidizer you put in it, you won't see a big difference. Only your money will be wasted. If you need a really strong flash, use the same 5/4/1 ratio with potassium perchlorate, aluminum (4-12 micron), sulfur under 10g salutes. Above 10g salutes mix it the dark aluminum with 30 micron blue 50:50. I recommend thick, strong cylindrical water glass tubes made of copy paper, or masking paper. Buy minimum 50m long 2mm visco fuse to it. More complicated than that is not worth it and it is unnecessary to invest. What is worth the most is potassium perchlorate with some pure dark under 10g, and blue:dark 50:50 above 10g salutes. In order to grind the ingredients properly, you need at least a high-quality lab mortar. Coated aluminium works very well with nitrate ( potassium and barium nitrate) It can creat loud firecracker and relatively safe than chlorates. Magnesium is highly reactive and linseed oil takes too long time to dry out totally. Flash with perchlorate sulphur and aluminium is not recommended for begineers, use of sulphur makes it extremely sensitive. Very risky stay safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mx5kevin Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 3 hours ago, Zumber said: Coated aluminium works very well with nitrate ( potassium and barium nitrate) It can creat loud firecracker and relatively safe than chlorates. Magnesium is highly reactive and linseed oil takes too long time to dry out totally. Flash with perchlorate sulphur and aluminium is not recommended for begineers, use of sulphur makes it extremely sensitive. Very risky stay safe. Nitrates require magnesium if no other much stronger oxidizer is used. Buying KNO3 or other nitrates with aluminum for strong flash are wasting for money, nitrates with aluminum are weak combination. The two most powerful nitrates are strontium and barium. What is guaranteed to be worth it is barium. If someone needs a very strong flash powder, they need potassium perchlorate, potassium chlorate is a dangerous alternative. For those who find one weak a KNO3/Mg/S under a chlorate or perchlorate, no matter what kind of oxidizer is used, nothing will be good. If someone uses potassium perchlorate, aluminum is needed. It is completely compatible with sulfur, and will only make it much more stronger. See: Testing flash powders for homemade firecrackers I have tried all the existing oxidizers for flash powder with magnesium, aluminum, magnalium. In nitrates if someone does not have potassium perchlorate barium-nitrate worth it and nothing other than that. Persulphates, Ba(ClO3)2, NH4ClO4, KMnO4, NaNO3, and others are dead end, a waste of money and time. In terms of strength, it is unnecessary to search for how much stronger one is than the other, because there is no drastic difference. For extreme strong and safe flash powder required KClO4 with aluminum presence of sulfur. KClO3 and KClO4 are restricted precursors for individual users. Everything else isn't strong enough or compatible enough. I have been actively experimenting with this for 15 years. At home, those who can't even be called amateurs who follow the pros mix in everything that professionals would never use. In relation to strength, one important thing to look at is whether someone has done it, 0.2g in mini firecrackers are working effective or not. Everyone says everything about strength, these are relative nonsense. Anyone who can make such a statement must have at least ten years of active experience with homemade flash powder firecrackers. But the majority are not like that, they only say things based on superficial experiences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skyboomer Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 (edited) Just a safety FYI, barium nitrate is toxic. i use potassium perchlorate and 2 micron aluminum in a 70:30 ratio. 1 also use potassium perchlorate and 325 mesh magnalium in a 50:50 ratio. Both of these seem to be popular formulas on the forum. Not sure which one is louder as I’ve only set off very few of them. More importantly is the safe production and handling of flash powders. Get all your safety equipment first before fooling around with anything. Your still attached fingers and eyes will thank you later. Edited March 12 by Skyboomer Needed to add one word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderEx Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 Can't believe you even talk about flash for beginners? Start off with ordinary black powder! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXpyro Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 5 hours ago, ThunderEx said: Can't believe you even talk about flash for beginners? Start off with ordinary black powder! That's what I'm saying!! It's absurd. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zumber Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 And KP/ Al is not for begineer. Sulphur makes it more sensitive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkWhisperer Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 On 3/7/2024 at 7:32 PM, redbullzuiper said: The last couple of months the quality of the forum is declining. It worries me honestly, the amount of bad formulated questions, questions that make no sense, questions that no one understands, and so on. Looks likes there are coming more and more trolls / kids to the forum and dont add anything to it. This one is another example, can we do something about this? It seems to be in large part a migration of mostly newbies from reddit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkWhisperer Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 On 3/10/2024 at 10:14 PM, mx5kevin said: More complicated than that is not worth it and it is unnecessary to invest. What is worth the most is potassium perchlorate with some pure dark under 10g, and blue:dark 50:50 above 10g salutes. In order to grind the ingredients properly, you need at least a high-quality lab mortar. Kevin you know flash well. But this sentence, responding to a clear newbie with limited safety knowledge, might have them grinding away at 70/30 in a mortar. Not a good idea... I appreciate that you meant grinding individual ingredients, but this important detail could easily be missed by newer folks from the way you phrased it, and should be clearly specified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mx5kevin Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 (edited) 10 hours ago, SharkWhisperer said: Kevin you know flash well. But this sentence, responding to a clear newbie with limited safety knowledge, might have them grinding away at 70/30 in a mortar. Not a good idea... I appreciate that you meant grinding individual ingredients, but this important detail could easily be missed by newer folks from the way you phrased it, and should be clearly specified. I didn't write to anyone to anywhere to grind for flash powder all components with together. Separately, he can grind the ingredients with a quality mortar. He wrote it down „small explosives like firecrackers” what kind of product he want. Only certain types of raw materials are suitable for this. The person who does it is not stupid, he knows what he is doing. It requires appropriate protective equipment and tools goggles, masks, and more. Black powder and KNO3/Al/S flash powder are not the most suitable for the given purpose. If he put these in at home, it probably wouldn't explode or it would be very weak. Chemicals and equipment are costly. He may not be interested in other pyrotechnic products. The simplest product, and most people will not set up a small pyrotechnic factory at home to produce all kinds of pyrotechnic devices. I don't recommend weak compositions to anyone that I myself know is not suitable. There is no raw material for beginners or pro users in pyrotechnics, there are products and suitable compositions for that, and it doesn't matter who does it, it needs to be uniform. Assembling a simple firecracker professionally is complicated, costly, and time-consuming. A specific product needs these chemicals and equipment and nothing else. Those who get involved in pyrotechnics like spectacular, exciting things. Of this, what is available to most people are the smaller and larger explosions. For their money and time, no one wants boring products. If someone comes here someone and is considered stupid. All kinds of nonsense the user are buying, because it was recommended to him, which is not quite suitable for the current purpose. He will say the community is not open, not honest, not reliable. I advise a beginner on one important thing, everyone say everything. You have to look at how the current user made the quality of the product the person is talking about. If you don't see their products, it could be anyone. If someone is looking for a specific product, all the details are available. I have such products, you can see in detail how it works and how I made it with videos. From the chemical background to their protective equipment, everything is documented in great detail. Edited March 14 by mx5kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skyboomer Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 Someone said that they use different flash powder ratios depending on the size of the salute. If it was under 10 grams, it was a certain ratio, but above 10 grams was a different ratio. I was wondering what was the reason for that. the two formulas I use are Kclo4 with 2 micron dark Indian aluminum (70:30) and Kclo4 with 325 mesh magnalium. Which one of these formulas work best above and below 10 grams? I mix them by putting alternating scoops into the tube, seal and then handle them for awhile to mix them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zumber Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 9 hours ago, Skyboomer said: Someone said that they use different flash powder ratios depending on the size of the salute. If it was under 10 grams, it was a certain ratio, but above 10 grams was a different ratio. I was wondering what was the reason for that. It could be the volume? If oxidizer to aluminium ratio is 50:50 this will have more volume than 70:30 ratio More volume fill more space for big tube. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalifireworks Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 (edited) 12 hours ago, Skyboomer said: Someone said that they use different flash powder ratios depending on the size of the salute. If it was under 10 grams, it was a certain ratio, but above 10 grams was a different ratio. I was wondering what was the reason for that. the two formulas I use are Kclo4 with 2 micron dark Indian aluminum (70:30) and Kclo4 with 325 mesh magnalium. Which one of these formulas work best above and below 10 grams? I mix them by putting alternating scoops into the tube, seal and then handle them for awhile to mix them. Larger salutes can benefit from courser Aluminium, it makes the boom appear more massive and the tone probably deeper, so for large salutes some like to mix Dark al with <40Micron Al 50:50 and use that for the metal Powder Edited March 16 by Kalifireworks 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHNO Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 (edited) Use Charcoal: 1 KClO4: 73% 1.3 Al: 19% 1 C: 8% 1 KClO4: 69% 2 Mg: 24% 1 C: 7% Flash7.pdf Edited March 17 by CHNO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXpyro Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 Why are we giving flash powder recipes to a beginner? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 On 3/17/2024 at 9:30 AM, TXpyro said: Why are we giving flash powder recipes to a beginner? Agreed. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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